Legacies
by peaceofmind98
Summary: Envy. For the one who considers herself a mere doll,a replacement, if you will. Love. For the man who is willing to give up what he has risked everything for. Redemption. For a man who has lost his wife twice and yet still seeks for her. Third Impact has come and gone. But at what cost will they pay to bring them back. The cost...could be much higher than what they expected.


Legacies

A/N: I do not own Evangelion. All rights are due to Gainax, Hideki Anno.

Chapter 1: In the Midst.

In front of him lay a massive, white creature, encased in a transparent cylindrical tube, floating in the midst of yellowish liquid. It was much taller than he. Much so; as it occupied much of the space of the already cavernous hall he was in, some might say, comparable to that Geofront. In its presence, he couldn't help but shiver; mostly due to its imposing aura and sheer magnificence and magnitude it seemed to exude. Although, a part of him did like to say that he was only shivering because he was, after all in Antarctica. Why should he be afraid of _her_?

He, after all, had lived through Second and Third Impact, where those man-made "gods" brought out their worst; but then again, so did everyone else. But, he; now, he was special.

Special, in the sense that he was _still_ one of the leading lights in what was perhaps mankind's greatest scientific venture since Project E; though one might even argue that this was an extension of that. Still, he was _special_, in another more degrading sense. Post-Impact civilian freedom had its limitation; and he had less than that. He was a tool; virtually the property of the Project. It was no longer worthwhile to keep the spark of ambition alive.

Once, he was chess master, and now, he was pawn. Pawn, he bitterly chuckled, to the pawn he once controlled, when he was once a puppet master. In retrospect, he considered he did have it better than the rest of his fellow puppet masters; all of them were either dead or imprisoned for life. Yet, he gave him another chance. He, of all people; the one he treated like dirt. The one he abandoned...yet he.

What his erstwhile pawn was pursuing drew close parallels to what he once sought. An irony, yes; and perhaps, the reason he had given this second chance. He knew very well what his master felt, and thought. Again, he had a bitter laugh; was he turning into someone like Fuyutsuki; a useless old man only kept around for the sole purpose of sentiment.

The irony!

He walked towards the control centre above. Rows of consoles were manned by countless, gifted personnel from around the world. All of them, bright enough to design and build the so-called "Technology of God". All of them bright enough to shut up about its continued existence; with the help of a very hefty pay check of course. Some of them, he could've remembered clearly from his days at NERV and even GEHRIN, where they now stood like titans amidst the young greenhorn researchers of the current generation. Now, they were about to test the feasibility of Project Eden; technically, the most important program in the project, worth in the hundreds of billions for even a year of progress.

Though, in the end, that was just a cover. He knew that.

"_LCL Levels at Maximum...Artificial Soul Core Accepted..."_

That did not make it any less impressive. Perhaps, this was man's way of measuring up against those who fashioned what he once considered "gods"; ADAM and Lilith. With the culmination of this program, man would have made, for the first time, a fully artificial progenitor. The plan was fairly easy to understand. A progenitor could settle distant planets for man, and make it suitable for his purposes; that was the simple gist of it. Barren, inhospitable planets could be turned into liveable places for man to thrive in. In the long run, it would save humanity an invaluable amount of resources, replacing what was the alternative: the clunky, climate control machinery wrought from metal and man's ingenuity which kept the biomes of the Earth alive after Second Impact; expensive to build, expensive to maintain.

"Ah...Di-director!"

He had arrived.

"Hmm...so...any first thoughts...Doctor _Rokubungi_..."

He had placed an emphasis on his last name, as if he meant to annoy him. It did great work in that; the doctor was quite dismayed upon hearing his pre-nuptial surname. He showed his irritation by way of a mild scowl. His superior only showed an equally mild expression of amusement.

If anyone did look at the two, who were perched at the top of the control room, they would find great contrast between the two of them. Whereas Doctor Rokubungi carried a fearsome air, only heightened by his ominous, entirely black attire, his superior carried a light hearted grin and got along well with most of the personnel. He, on the other hand, wore the complete antithesis, a white coat with white pants, the former emblazoned with the logo of the organization he headed.

"I would prefer you address me with your mother's last name. That is legally, my name. Do I still have the dignity of keeping my own name?"

"Legally, you are the property of the Project. That is, if you didn't know, a statement of pure fact."

"Do you think I am amused, boy?"

"I believe so..."

"_Vitals are stable...preparing initialization of self-actualization mechanisms...MAGI uplink currently unhindered..."_

The young man who now stood at the head of it all looked with eyes of longing wanted, with all fervour, for success. This could not fail; not in the very least. If he did, not only would the Project suffer...would Retrieval be even a possibility. Retrieval was of utmost priority; his dreams were not for nought. He knew what he saw and dreamt; even basing immeasurable amounts of research on it. And if it all came to worst...it would come down to the initiation of the Fourth–

"You know...another critical juncture in my life...Shinji...like this...was the Contact Experiment..."

"Father..."

"_No interference detected. Awaiting approval...approval received. Accelerating initialization sequence."_

"I think sometimes...I should've moved on...fully...maybe...that was what she wanted. After all, I have Asuka with me, and I have my precious son and daughter by my side. Why should I be doing this; I sometimes wonder to myself. Why?"

"Why? Is Asuka like Nao–"

"No. Father. Asuka is not merely a toy for me to waste time with, and so is my family not such a thing. They are invaluable to me...but she is...also. You should know that. After all, you've been such a _wonderful _father these days. "

His words hid a deep displeasure. They stabbed, quite messily, at the old man's heart and he could only turn his head away from the eyes of his son, remorseful.

"Then why?"

"_First Cycle...Complete...Second Cycle...Complete...No Interference Received as of 0000 Hours, GMT +00:00..." _

"Simple. I want to give her life...a life that you robbed her of...and that she gave...to me. I do think I owe her the world. That was what she gave me, anyway. What about you, _father_."

His parting words were a parting verbal shot; they left a bad taste in his most, with their condescending and mocking tone. Still, it was to be expected. He wasn't winning any accolades for being a good father. And, it wasn't as if she was not close to his heart as well. He should have known that. Although, when did he realize that fully? Third Impact?

"Same."

"_...Variations detected..."_

"Liar. You just want _mom_ back, don't you."

A brief silence had struck. A low blow; thought the old man. He just had to say that. Still...I mean...well...his son was an absolute hypocrite to begin with. Why did his son, as a result of growing a backbone, have to be always so sarcastic and pretentious towards him? Then again, the alternative was either death or rotting a lifetime in jail. A man has to take his chances and not be picky with what fate has to offer. Besides, Yui would probably like it he was nice to his son–

"Hypocrite. You're no different. You just want Rei, who is by the way the clone of your–"

"Shut. Up."

"Oepedius Comp–"

This time, however, what interrupted the taunting old man was the blaring sound of sirens. Sirens indicating an abnormality. But, there was only one question. Was this what they were expecting to unfold? Was this going to conform to the...scenario...which was what he still called it, after all these years.

He almost could remember...Fuyutuski say...that those old men at SEELE won't like this.

But now, the one sitting next to him was the one who replaced the old men, for better or for worse. Eh, somewhere in between, he surmised. And he was once more, at the helm of an organization much like what he led as Commander.

"Sir...Abnormality detected..." said a now much older Maya Ibuki, who was officially, the one directly supervising the operation.

She had changed as the years had passed; her young, cherub-like face giving way to the look of a woman who'd been literally though hell and back...literally speaking; if being at Ground Zero for Third Impact constituted as such. What had not changed were her cheery disposition and her intense dislike for grossly bloody, disgusting things. Although that did beg to ask the question of why she was in Project E and now its successor at all, handling giant robots who had "blood" in them and who destroyed Angels in the goriest ways possible. Though now, she seemed sane enough.

She was just there as a mere placeholder. The ones originally slated to oversee the operation, Sorhyu and Akagi...would complicate matters further. They would...catch on...to their plans. To their great fortune, Shinji managed to miraculously keep them out of the loop. At least to a degree where they only had the vaguest notion of the certain...sensitive parts of the Project and that in itself, was what they needed.

He spared a smirk. This was quite familiar...the feeling of everything going according to plan; made him lose decades. His son was beginning to be just as driven as he was. And he had his mother's charisma...something he didn't quite have, even if inspiration-through-fear could be taken as an equivalent of sorts.

"What kind of abnormality?" questioned Shinji. Disappointingly, he could not hide the eagerness in his voice. Someone could have noticed.

"Blue Pattern...but...the readings...identical to that of Lilith's."

"That was to be expected–"

"Sir...the problem is...they match the unique readings shown during...Third Impact...with the fusi...fu..."

The suspense in the control room was immense. Young bright scientists, fresh out of college, were all clearly excited with such findings. Now, they were seeing with their very eyes what had been considered ground breaking, what was considered as history writing itself; what they had seen hidden from their textbooks. Veterans, meanwhile, especially those from NERV, expressed varying degrees of shock and fear. And Doctor Ibuki couldn't even say it straight, because he was here. He, the one who started the madness, briefly chuckled, in the sight of all.

"I see...the fusion of the First Child and Lilith..." said he.

_Bingo._

"So...my _dear_ husband...this was what you were planning...eh?"

A woman clad in white lab coat held a journal in her hands; a journal that held the personal musings of certain man...along with his certain ideas and fantasies. However, inside were certain calculations. And she, being the genius she thought she was, figured it all out. And as it was fitting, she had on a grin of triumph; beneath that grin of hers, held a whirlpool of dark, conflicting intents.

She could almost crush the journal.

That doll.

_January 15, 2020_

_These past years, I have been recieving the most unusual dreams. I see her. I see her smile. I rarely saw her smile, when she was still alive, when she was still a human being. They are vivid. They show a simple world, a red sky and orange sea, where some of the billions of humanity's souls still lingered. And yet, there, she smiles. Not as a giant; but she smiled, as a person. These dreams have led me to a single conclusion; one which I still find hard to accept._

_Ayanami is still alive. Somewhere. Ayanami._

_I only have the faintest clues on my mother's research and her field. I do not know much about Metabiology and things like that, in all honesty. But, even being just a mere layman, I poured over dozens of papers, which, conveniently, for my status as an ex-pilot, I still had easy access to. That, and I knew certain people high up, but that doesn't matter for now; for now, what mattered was that I needed information. I needed to know how Instrumentality happened. So I did. So I studied and researched._

_Ayanami was alive. Not in body, but at least in soul._

_She was, for lack of a better description, now the embodidment of what appeared to be a widespread, although faint, subconscious group mind. In short, she was literaly in pieces, scattered to every soul of mankind. What did I have to back it up? Just a few papers written by Keel Lorenz on the alternatives to Instrumentality and my own intuition. I honestly, I sincerely believed that my dreams were certainly not the just fantasies. Though, as the months passed after my epiphany, I started to lose hope. Research and college have both not been fruitful as I would've expected._

_I even considered giving up. Until I realized that someone else shared my dreams..._

That Bastard.

That Idiot. He only loved that _doll_, not her. He only loved that _bitch_, not her. She knew it. She read though his entire freaking journal, for crying out loud! The whole damn thing! Everything in Project Alpha was simply worthless in perspective; they were conveniently there, for cover and for funding. After all, what else to bring back the bi...do..._woman_ you love that than to use the funding of one of the most expensive programs in human history? They were just there so that worthless Bastard could "pay back society" for helping him bring back that precious bi..._doll_ of his.

In her mind, a familiar, yet hated presence said with bated breath. A doll hanged.

"No, she was the **real doll**, not her. He just played house with **her**, for a while; for a short, **happy**while. "

And to think, he was working with his father! His father, who essentially ruined his damn life! Of course, Wonder Girl gave them the same dreams and visions. Way to go, Wonder Girl. What is this, some convoluted plot for you to bring those bastards together? Bring back your dear _Commander_ and his dear son, your _boyfriend_, together. So you can play house together!? You know, a happy family, with a smiling wife, a cheerful husband and some old cranky grandfather. Wonder Girl, didn't you forget that you're her _sister_? Or are you just a sick bi–

"Asuka. Look, I hate Gendo as much as the next guy. But Shinji...this is going to far isn't it?"

"Shut. Up. Akagi. Didn't you agree to go along? You know, to ruin that bastard, Gendo? You know; my sick father-in-law."

She had placed special emphasis on the words father, in and law. Obviously she was starting to lose her grasp. Obviously, she was very, very insecure. And very, very, dangerous. Doctor Ritsuko Akagi clearly knew that dealing with this ex-Evangelion Pilot and currently, her boss, was going to be quite a...challenge.

Ikari. Sohryu. Akagi. The nepotism in this particular field of science...but then again was she _any _different?

"Can't you confront Shinji? This is going to waste hundreds of billions of dollars in research; this little stunt of yours. Besides Shinji isn't Gendo, and as much as I hate Gendo, from watching them together, they seem to be mending their–

"Shut. Up. What are the access codes to the MAGI?"

"Only Gendo knows them. He technically oversaw and led the creation of the Second Generation MAGI systems. I know as much of their secrets as I know my mother's in the first generation MAGI. I was just assisting him! I know as much as what Maya did on the MAGI back in Tokyo-3!"

"Oh please. He's probably trying to keep your mouth by having–

"No. He. Is. Not."

A brief silence ensued.

"...that was a bit harsh of me, my bad."

"Anyways, what now? What is it that you're going to do now? If we can't access the MAGI we can't possibly stop the test–"

In front of them, the massive steel door guarding the confines which held the Second Generation MAGI systems opened, creaking slowly as it did, hydraulics pumping. The two women simply went inside, the elder of them stunned as to how the red haired woman in front of her, at least a decade younger than her, managed to break into one of the most secure facilities in the world. Then again, she was the Director's wife, in the odd tradition that went back during GEHRIN and the early days of NERV.

Again, the frustrating nepotism.

But then again, Shinji didn't even speak to her a word about this.

"How did you get in, Asuka?"

"Simple. Getting pass the finger print scans and the retina scans was fairly easy. But even easier..."

Asuka couldn't help but grin, like the sly Cheshire cat, as she continued to proudly explain what she did.

"...were the pass codes...even when in numerical sequence all spelt out only a few words. Can you guess Akagi? We are after all, geniuses, are we not? We wouldn't be here, working for the United Nations Evangelion Developmental Division, if we were not among the best and brightest of mankind?"

"What could possibly...let me guess...if I were a crazy widower...I would have the name of my wife...is it, in no particular order, Yui and Rei. Those are the pass codes right? I mean, in _every_ pass code they only mean one of _those_ two things? You're kidding me, right? They probably wouldn't be that stu–"

"Well they were. Bingo, Akagi. You get to win a million now. Our crazy Gendo and Shinji apparently have eight out of their eleven pass codes as either _Yui_ or _Rei_. In any sequence possible. In any of the coding used. After all damned means of encryption, of course."

The younger Akagi stopped for a while, to contemplate at what Asuka had said. How did she, then, figure out the last _three_ pass codes. If she ventured to even ask, would Asuka's temper flare up again? From what she could tell, this was a sensitive topic to broach. Even while proudly explaining it to her, puffing up her larger-than-life sense of pride, she seemed a bit...down under the weather.

"What...were the last three pass codes then, Asuka? If you don't want to ans–"

Asuka turned to her, eyes hiding behind her bangs, clearly downcast. She said quietly, lips moving slowly. These words, Akagi could make out, only though careful listening and lip reading. Yet, when she did say them, she said them with flair of faded hope. Or a bit of happiness still left in that sad heart of hers.

"Didn't I say...it was simple? The name of my son. My...name. And the word.

Akagi listened.

"Love."

Akagi shivered, if but for a brief while.

The red light in the middle of Shinji's watch flickered and let out faint beeping noise. Gendo knew. Shinji knew. Unbeknowingst to Akagi and Sohryu, they knew they were there. And the wrinkles of old age became apperant once more on the elder of the two. They were caught in worry and suspense, a possible derailment of their long held plans. How they did find out did not matter. What did was making sure all went according to the plan. They only had so little funding; barely enough to call upon for this project in the first place, and they only had one final shot, in their lifetimes, at least.

"Doctor Rokubungi, you are now officialy in charge of this operation. I have to go on official business."

"Why not let me...take care of things...besides...MAGI A1, A2 and A3..._she'll_ take care of them. _She _won't hurt them, if that is what you are worried about, son. But, don't you want to see the glimmer of her, resurrection, of Rei's, a chance you'll only have once."

The young Director paused for a bit, before running out the control room, and muttering a few inaudible words only his father heard.

"I won't even see that happen, if I do not do anything about now."

Meanwhile, Akagi and Sohryu had their mouths agape at the sight. For both of them, resentment was brought up to their conscious selfs, for differing reasons. But, in the end, the reasons were only purely rooted in envy. Rather, jealousy, for a certain blue haired, albino girl. Although, looking at the...brat...in front of them, they wondered how she ended up...younger than expected. Much younger.

"So, you must be the wife of Papa and you must be the assistant of Grampa! Nice to meet 'cha, my name's technically Yuki..."

Ritsuko's eyes widened at her next statement.

"Of course, you can call me _Rei I. You know, Rei, the first._"


End file.
